By faith, Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph and worshipped leaning upon the top of his staff.
By faith, Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel and gave commandment concerning his bones.
By faith, Moses, when he was born, was saved three months of his parents because they saw he was a proper child and they were not afraid of the king's commandment.
By faith, Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter,
choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.
Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater, greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect under the recompense of the reward.
By faith, he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him who was invisible.
Through faith, he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, as tea that destroyed the firstborn should touch them.
By faith, they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, which the Egyptians are saying to do were drowned.
By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down after they were compassed about seven days.
By faith, the harlot Rahab perished not with them that had believed, when she had received the spies with peace.
And what shall I more say?
For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and of Barak and of Samson and of Jetha, of David also and Samuel and of the prophets,
who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,
quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of aliens.
Women received their dead, raised to life again, and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might retain a better resurrection.
And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea moreover of bonds and imprisonment.
They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, they were tempted, were slain with the sword.
They wanted about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the world was not worthy.
They wanted in deserts and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth.
These all, having obtained a good report through faith, receive not the promise, God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.
Let's pray to the Lord God, thank you again for everything you blessed us with, pray it should be our pastor now.
Please feel in the Holy Spirit and please just give us understanding, help us to hear and apply the message that he has prepared for us, and in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Amen. Okay, we're in Hebrews chapter 11 this morning, and look down at your Bibles in verse number 1,
it says, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
For by it, referring to faith, the elders obtained a good report.
Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
And what I want to preach on this morning is the subject of faith, and the title of my sermon is Faith is the Substance.
I want to talk about, preach on the doctrine of faith in the Bible, and go over the different usages of the word and how it applies to us as Christians today.
Now, hold your place there in Hebrews chapter 11, put a piece of paper or a pen there, a book marker, and go to the book of Jude if you would, the book of Jude.
Faith, of course, we know in the Bible is used interchangeably with words such as belief.
We have believe, trust, hope, confidence, that's what faith is referring to.
But it's also important that we understand the context of each time this word is used.
The reason why is because a lot of false doctrine can be proposed if people apply faith all across the board only to salvation,
or to the works that we do after salvation.
So it's important for us to understand the context of each.
And the first thing I want to mention here, or the first thing I want to talk about is the faith.
So when we talk about faith, let's first and foremost address what the Bible means by the faith.
Now, what does that mean when the Bible talks about the faith?
It's referring to the system of Christian belief, Christianity as a whole, right?
The Christian faith, that's what that's referring to.
And in fact, when you read 1 Timothy, for example, chapter 1, the apostle Paul is addressing Timothy and he says what?
My son in the faith.
You see, Timothy wasn't Paul's biological son, but he was his spiritual son in the faith,
meaning that the apostle Paul was the one responsible for mentoring him, leading him, teaching him the word of God.
He's somewhat of a spiritual father to Timothy, which is why he's calling him his son in Christianity, in the faith, in this system of beliefs.
And so that's important to know.
And in fact, the Bible talks about the fact that when we get people saved, we're begetting them in the gospel, right?
We begat them in the gospel, meaning that we are the ones preaching the word of God into them, we're preaching the gospel into them,
we're helping them to call upon the name of the Lord, and they somewhat become our spiritual children.
But even aside from that, people can become your spiritual children when you mentor them in the faith, in the system of Christian belief.
Let me read to you from 1 Corinthians 15, you don't have to turn there, verse 14.
It says, and if Christ be not risen, referring to the resurrection, then our preaching is vain.
And listen to this, and your faith is also vain, meaning that, you know, if Jesus Christ didn't come back from the dead,
he didn't resurrect bodily, according to the Bible, our religion is completely vain.
It's empty, it doesn't mean anything, because a staple of Christian doctrine is the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
It talks about the faith, your faith, that's referring to the system of Christian belief.
Look at Jude, if you would, in verse number 3.
It says here, Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation,
it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you, that ye should, look what it says,
earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
So according to the Bible, the faith, referring to the system of Christian beliefs, should be defended by believers.
Because when the Bible says to earnestly contend for the faith, it means to earnestly defend the faith.
It's not enough that we just believe the doctrine of the Bible, according to the word of God,
it's your responsibility to defend the doctrines of the Bible.
To expose heresies and false doctrines, and to uphold and promote the right type of doctrine.
Well, you know, I don't really like to get into that, and I don't like to argue with people,
I just don't really like, I kind of like to be peaceable with individuals when it comes to doctrine.
No, the Bible says that doctrine divides, right?
God came to bring a sword, and the sword divides,
and according to the Bible, we cannot be ashamed of the doctrines of the Bible,
we are to proclaim it loudly, distinctively, to all people, groups, why?
Because the Bible says we're supposed to earnestly contend for the faith.
Fight for the truth, amen?
And not through illustrations or opinions, but rather through the word of God.
Okay, contend through the Scriptures.
This is referring to the fact that we should defend Christianity, okay?
Defend the doctrines of the Bible, defend what it means to be a Christian,
what the Bible says about the Lord Jesus Christ, salvation, and all of the doctrines of Christ.
Look at verse 20, if you would, so we're to defend the faith, earnestly contend for it,
but look at verse 20,
But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,
keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
So not only does the Bible instruct us to defend and contend for the faith,
the Bible also says that we should grow in our faith, right?
Grow in the faith, that's what it means when it says build up yourselves on your most holy faith.
You know, God wants you to be saved, and if you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, you have eternal life.
But you know, the journey, so to speak, doesn't stop there.
We're supposed to build ourselves upon that foundation, which is Jesus Christ.
We're to build upon that gold, silver, and precious stones.
We're to serve the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is what it means when it talks about building up yourselves on your most holy faith,
referring to Christianity, the faith of the Bible.
And this is important, right?
To grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
This is what the Bible talks about in 2 Peter 1, it says,
Beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge,
to knowledge temperance, to temperance brotherly kindness,
to brotherly kindness, the Bible says, charity, for if these things be in you,
they make you that you should neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
So the Bible's telling us, you know, if you want to be a fruitful Christian,
and not forget that you were forgiven of past sins, it's important for you to grow in Christianity.
Grow in your knowledge of your religion, right?
Grow in your knowledge of the Bible, and have an understanding so you can get to know the Lord that much the more.
The Bible also says, turn with me if you would to Titus, the book of Titus chapter number 1,
1 Corinthians 16 verse 13 says, Watch ye, stand fast in the faith.
What does that mean? Stand fast in Christianity, in the system of beliefs that you hold to.
Quit you like men, be strong.
Let me also read to you from 1 Peter chapter 5 as you turn into Titus chapter 1.
We're talking about the faith, the system of beliefs that we call Christianity.
The Bible tells us that we are to build ourselves up upon our most holy faith, to contend for the faith,
but we're also to resist Satan in the faith according to the Bible.
Because the Bible tells us to be sober, be vigilant, for your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion,
walketh about seeking whom he may devour, right?
And the Bible says, whom resist steadfast in the faith.
What does that mean?
If you're going to contend against Satan and defeat and overcome the wows of the devil,
you have to do it within Christianity.
You have to do it in church.
You got to do it while you're reading the Bible.
You got to do it while you're serving God.
Why? Because a backslidden Christian has already been defeated.
If we're going to resist Satan and his temptations and his deceit and his deception,
we got to do it in the faith, okay, while we're serving God.
You know, a man, the Bible says, is not crowned except he strive lawfully.
So if we're going to participate in spiritual warfare, if we are going to overcome the temptations of the tempter,
it's important for us to realize that we can only be successful if we're doing it in the faith,
while we're in church, while we're walking with God, while we're serving him.
What's another thing that the Bible talks about when referring to the faith?
Well, the faith is often referring to the conduct of a Christian.
What am I referring to? Well, conduct means your behavior,
how you, you know, your conversation, as the Bible would put it, how you behave, the way you live.
That's often also referred to as the faith.
It's important to believe the right things, but it's also important to live right as well.
That's what the Bible calls living righteously, right?
Look at Titus chapter one and verse number 10.
Let's look at a couple of examples here.
Verse number 10 of Titus one says, for there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers,
especially they of the circumcision.
Now, let me clarify what this is referring to.
The apostle Paul is writing to another son of the faith by the name of Titus,
and Titus is basically like a church planter, okay?
He's going about planting churches on the island of Crete in different cities that are in need of elders or pastors,
and, you know, he's telling them the qualifications of a pastor,
what are some of the things that he needs to be looking for in a person in order to ordain them as a pastor,
and he says that they need to hold the faithful word of God.
He needs to know the word of God, and he gives them a reason why.
He says it's important to hold forth the faithful word because there are many unruly talkers, deceivers,
and then he says, especially they of the circumcision.
Now, the circumcision is actually referring to Jews, those of the Jewish religion,
and more specifically the Pharisees, and he's saying, hey, you got to know the Bible,
you need to promote the Bible, and you need to teach these guys who you're going to ordain to also hold to the Bible
because there's a lot of the circumcision, there's a lot of Jews out there,
especially during this specific time, that are lying to people, they're deceiving people,
they're full of vain talk, so you need to be able to confront the gainsayers, okay?
And if you think about it, you know, this is a fulfillment of the prophecy of Jesus Christ
in Matthew chapter 23 when he's preaching against the Pharisees.
Why? Because Crete is an island, right?
And what does Jesus say of the Pharisees?
He says that they come past land and sea to make one proselyte,
and when he is made, they make him twofold more a child of hell than themselves,
implying that the Pharisees, who are adherents to the religion of Judaism, are children of the devil,
and that's not controversial because Jesus said in John 8 44,
ye, referring to these religious Jews, are of your father the devil,
and the lust of your father will you do, he was a murderer from the beginning, a bold knot in the truth, etc.
And then of course in Revelation 2 and 3, Jesus says that they're of the synagogue of Satan.
Why? Because they are not a part of a biblical religion, they're not a part of Christianity,
they're a part of a religion that's actually fighting against Christianity.
I mean, they crucified the Lord, right?
So he's saying you're going to run into these circumcision, these false prophets,
and so you need to know the word of God.
He says in verse 11, whose mouths must be stopped,
whose subvert whole houses, teaching things which they are not, for filthy lucre's sake.
Now this is a reason why we know that these people are false prophets,
because they're teaching these things not because they're deceived, per se,
not because they think that they're preaching the truth,
what is the motive behind what they're doing?
It says for filthy lucre's sake.
What is lucre, or another word for lucre's, lucrative?
Money, right?
And he says they're doing it because they're trying to make unjust gain
from the adherence of their message and make money off of them.
It says in verse 12, one of themselves, even a prophet of their own,
said the Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies, okay?
So what are the Pharisees saying here?
Well, they're basically criticizing the Cretans, okay?
And what are they saying to the Cretans?
They're saying that they're liars, evil beasts, and slow bellies.
Now I actually believe that this is actually true.
You say why?
Because verse 13 says this witness is true, okay?
So that's why I believe that.
But here's the thing, when it comes to the Pharisees,
when it comes to any false prophet,
they have to have a little bit of truth in their false doctrine, right?
Because then they can't pass off their deception, their lies.
So they're preaching, they're subverting whole houses,
they're teaching things which they ought not,
and then they have this criticism against the Cretans
that they're dishonest people, that they are lazy, they're evil beasts,
and the Apostle Paul says this witness is true.
And then he goes on to say wherefore rebuke them.
Rebuke who?
The Cretans.
Sharply, why?
That they may be, listen to this, sound in the faith.
And you say, well, how do you know this is referring to the Cretans
and not to the false prophets?
Well, obviously in the previous verses,
we know that the Apostle Paul is telling Titus to preach against the false prophets.
But the reason we know that in this particular instance,
he's addressing the Cretans is because of the fact
that Pharisees can't be sound in the faith.
You can rebuke them all you want,
but they're going to continue to teach false doctrine
and be wicked individuals.
Whereas Cretans who were saved, if they are dishonest,
they're quote-unquote evil beasts, slow bellies, they're lazy, they're slothful,
that can change, that behavior can change through the preaching of God's Word.
So he says rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in Christianity.
They may be sound in the Christian faith.
They may be sound in the system of beliefs that we have.
Why? Because Titus is actually teaching the right doctrine,
but when you teach the right doctrine,
we want the people who believe that right doctrine to also behave right as well.
Right?
We want them to have the conduct that matches the doctrine.
He said, why does it say rebuke them sharply?
Why doesn't it say encourage them sharply?
Or love them sharply?
Or be kind to them sharply?
I'll tell you why.
Because when we're corrected, we're more likely to change.
And this is what the Bible says, preach the Word to be instant in season, out of season,
reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
Them that sin rebuke before all that others may fear, the Bible says.
You know, the Lord told the prophet Isaiah to lift up his voice like a trumpet,
cry out loud, and spare not, and show my people their transgressions.
Right?
So God is very much interested in correcting the behavior of his people
because it's through that that they correct their conduct
and they match up with how they're supposed to live.
And so that's why we need hard preaching.
You know, we need exhortative preaching and preaching that encourages,
preaching that exhorts you to continue in the faith,
but sometimes we need a swift kick in the rear end, spiritually speaking.
Right?
We need to be told that we're wrong.
We need to be told that we are in error and to correct our ways.
Okay?
And that's important to do.
Now go to chapter 2, if you would.
You can turn that on again.
I was wrong about the 70 degrees.
We need to turn it down a little bit.
Look at chapter 2.
We're talking about the faith, referring also to our conduct, the way we behave.
Look at verse 2 of Titus 2.
That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate.
Listen to this.
Sound in faith, in charity, in patience.
Skip down to verse 10, if you would.
He says, not perlo...
Knowing all good fidelity, that they, listen to this,
may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things.
So why is God interested in you conducting yourself as a believer in the faith?
Why is he interested in that?
Well, because he's not only interested in you believing the right things,
but he wants you to be a good testimony as well.
And you know what?
People aren't going to listen to you and listen to what you believe
if your lifestyle doesn't match up what the Bible says.
Now here's the thing.
What the Bible says is true no matter what people believe.
And you can have a person living a completely worldly life,
a life that's disobedient unto the Lord,
and you know what?
If they have the right beliefs,
it doesn't change the fact that the beliefs are true, right?
If a person's just completely backslidden,
they're in the world, they're involved in sin,
they're doing things that are not pleasing unto the Lord,
it doesn't change the fact that what they believe is still true
about the Bible, right?
But hold on a second.
God wants you to adorn the doctrines of God, though.
He wants you to make it look good by the way you live.
Ye are our epistles, the Bible says, known in red of all men.
And so obviously it's important for us to believe right,
but don't discount the fact that God is also interested in you living right as well.
Speaking right, living right, keeping sin out of your life,
that is important to do.
Go to 2 Timothy chapter number 4, if you would.
2 Timothy chapter 4.
You say, why?
Because God wants us to be sound in the faith.
What does it mean to be sound?
It means complete.
So in order for us to be complete in our faith,
He wants us to believe right,
but He wants us to have the actions that match up with those beliefs as well, okay?
In order for us not to be a reproach,
to have a bad testimony before others, etc.
2 Timothy chapter 4, we're talking about the faith,
referring to the system of Christian belief,
referring to the fact that we need to defend the faith,
build ourselves upon our most holy faith,
have behavior that is adorning our faith.
But the Bible also teaches us that we need to keep the faith.
What does it mean?
What does that mean when the Bible talks about keeping the faith?
It means, you know, believe the right things and do the right things till the day you die.
That's what it means to keep the faith.
Look at 2 Timothy 4 verse 5, it says,
But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions,
do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.
For I, referring to the Apostle Paul,
am now ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand.
This is not a flight he's taking.
He's saying, I'm going to die and I'm ready to die.
I'm about to die.
I'm ready to be offered.
The time of my departure is at hand.
And what does he say in verse 7?
I have fought a good fight.
I have finished my course.
I have kept the faith, the Bible says.
What does that mean?
It means that he ran the course that God set before him from beginning to end.
And you know what God's will is for your life?
To keep the faith till the day that you die.
To live as a Christian till the day that you die.
He said, well, I've been backslidden and you know,
I was out of the faith for quite some time because I was involved in sin.
Okay then, but you're here now though.
So from here on now, keep the faith, amen.
Make Christianity your life, not just something that you do in life.
It's a part of your life.
Christianity is our life, right?
And in order for us to last until the end,
to endure until the end, to endure afflictions and to keep the faith,
that's what we need to do is just determine we're going to stay in this thing for the long haul
and not get out of the fight.
And if you have, you know, you're not alone if you've gotten out of the fight
because many people have done that in times past.
Sometimes people who are even in church can get out and become backslidden in heart
and turn back to the world in their heart and maybe have sin in their life.
But the point is that we get right with God at some time or another and remain in the faith.
Okay, you got a bad week? Okay, put the week behind you.
Let's start off a new this coming week.
You haven't read your Bible? Okay, read your Bible today.
You haven't spent time in adoration and in prayer and supplication?
Okay, then do it today.
Too many times Christians think about all their failures and the areas that they displease God in
and they allow that to hold them back, but you know what?
Keep the faith from here on out though.
Endure all things, you know, make sure that you're enduring to the end
and obviously we know that, you know, if you deviate and get out of the will of God,
it doesn't mean you lose your salvation because you can't.
Okay, it has nothing to do with salvation.
He just wants us to live the Christian life until our last breath
and thankfully, you know, once we got saved, we kept salvation eternally.
If we could lose our salvation, then it would be called a temporal life
because we could lose it at any moment, but it's not a temporal life.
It's eternal, meaning that once we have it, it's ours forever
and in fact, the Bible says that we're sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise until you sin.
No, until you get out of the church.
No, until the day of redemption, meaning from here on out, the resurrection.
Okay, go to 1 Timothy chapter 4, 1 Timothy chapter number 4.
We're talking about the faith, the system of beliefs.
God wants us to keep the faith
and this is why it's important for us to pace ourselves as Christians,
not try to do too much, not try to do too little,
just do enough to pace yourself to be in this thing for the long haul, okay?
You don't want to spiritually fatigue yourself,
but also just do the bare minimum where you're not getting strong in the Lord and the power of his might.
It's important for us to do just enough that we strengthen ourselves in the Lord,
but not burn out in the Lord as well, okay?
Keep the faith.
Here's the last thing I want to mention about the faith, referring to the system of Christian beliefs,
is that, you know, people can become apostate concerning the faith.
What does it mean to be apostate?
Look at 1 Timothy chapter 4 verse 1.
Now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith,
giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils.
So to become apostate essentially means to depart from the system of Christian beliefs.
Let me give you an example of this.
Let's say you believe that Jesus Christ is your Savior, that salvation is by grace through faith alone.
You believe that Jesus Christ is God.
I mean, all the essential doctrines of the Christian faith.
And then next week you become a Mormon, which doesn't hold to any of that, okay?
And then you become a Mormon and you're like,
Mormonism is the way, the truth, and the life.
Okay, you know what happened?
You've got apostate.
You say, well, isn't that like the same thing as losing your salvation?
No, actually the Bible teaches that you can't lose your salvation,
but if you go down that route, it essentially shows you were never safe to begin with.
You say, well, I know people, they claim to be a Christian, they grew up in church,
they're saying to hymns, they asserted that they believe all these things about the Bible,
but now they're an atheist.
Wouldn't you say they lost their salvation?
No, we would say that they believed in vain.
They were never safe to begin with.
And let me let you in on a little secret that you may not know about people.
They lie.
Did you know people lie about what they believe?
They'll tell you they're a Christian, they'll tell you they're saved, they'll tell you they believe the Bible,
and then five years down the road, they become a Muslim or something.
And you know, you've heard this.
You know, atheists who no longer believe in God, they say, well, I did all that.
I prayed all that.
I was in church.
I was a Baptist.
I had a Bible.
I used to believe all that.
But the diagnosis that the Bible gives, though, is that they just either, one, lied,
or they just believed in vain, meaning they never really believed it to begin with.
And let me give you a biblical example of this.
Judas Iscariot.
Now, there's a lot of false teaching about Judas Iscariot going around, right?
A lot of the charismatic Pentecostals, those who believe you can lose your salvation,
will often look at Judas Iscariot and say, that man lost his salvation.
But that is an incorrect diagnosis of Judas Iscariot, because Jesus himself, in John chapter 6,
when talking about Judas Iscariot, said that he was a devil from the beginning,
and that he did not believe from the beginning, meaning he wasn't saved from the beginning.
I think he was saved.
No, he was doing the Christian thing because he was greedy of filthy lucre.
He held the bag and wanted the money,
so he played the part in order to make merchandise off of the ministry.
And then, ultimately, it was found out that he was a devil.
Jesus already knew that from the beginning, but the disciples didn't know that.
This is a person who lied.
They weren't really saved to begin with.
They didn't lose their salvation because they never had it to begin with, okay?
And this is what it means to go apostate concerning the faith.
You know, if you meet someone who says that they're an atheist and were previously a Baptist, a Christian,
they believe the Bible, just be like, well, okay, so you weren't saved to begin with.
No, I was saved.
No, no, no, I was. I did the whole thing. I was saved.
But do you really know anybody who says that they were saved and would want to give that up?
Who in their right mind would be like, I'm saved, but you know what, I don't want to be saved anymore.
No one ever thinks to themselves, you know what, I'm tired of being saved.
I'm tired of just, you know, wanting to go to heaven and going to heaven and having eternal life
and having God as my Father and having the Holy Spirit dwell within me.
I'm sick of it. I want to go to hell.
No one thinks that way.
That's a nonsensical way of thinking.
No one ever has the gift of eternal life.
You know, people say, yeah, but you can give the gift back.
Who gives gifts back like eternal life?
Let's say it was even possible to do that because it's not possible, according to the Bible, to give a gift back.
It's not a tangible gift.
You wouldn't even know how to do that.
How would you give that gift of eternal life back if eternal life is not a tangible thing?
You're like, how do you give it back?
You don't.
But let's say if it were possible, who would want to give up eternal life to live forever?
Folks, the driving desire of humanity is to live forever.
Everyone throughout history has tried to figure out how to live forever.
So no one's just going to be like, now that they got it, they're just like, oh, this wasn't what I thought it was going to be.
Forever forever? Oh, man.
Folks, if a person claims to believe the essential doctrines of the Bible, what the Bible calls the doctrines of Christ,
and then somewhere along down the road becomes a Jehovah's Witness, a Mormon, yea, a Catholic,
they start praying to idols and believing that Mary is the mediator between us and God.
They start holding onto and believing damnable heresy.
They didn't lose their salvation.
They were just never safe to begin with.
The Bible categorizes them as going apostate concerning the faith.
And in fact, the Bible says that there's people in 2 Timothy chapter 3 says that they're ever learning,
never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Now as Janus and Jamborees withstood Moses, so did these also resist the truth.
Men of corrupt minds, listen to this, reprobate concerning the faith.
Meaning they've rejected the system of Christian beliefs.
Go to 1 Corinthians 15, let me give you one last example here, and then we're going to go to Ephesians chapter 2.
The faith is referring to the system of Christian beliefs.
And the Bible lays out various instructions of our relationship to the faith.
But on the subject of apostasy, departing from the faith, let's look at an example.
There's in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, in verse 1, this is commonly known as the resurrection chapter.
Probably the most extensive chapters in dealing with the resurrection.
He says in verse 1,
So before we read on, I want you to notice that he's addressing the Corinthian church,
which was established by the apostle Paul, who taught them the gospel.
So is this just your random person who's not in church?
No, these people are in church.
I mean, they're receiving letters from the apostle Paul.
They received two letters from the apostle Paul.
One with 16 chapters, obviously they didn't have chapters in those days.
One with 16 chapters, the other one 13.
I mean, it's a lot of content found in these letters, right?
So these are people who are in the faith.
They claim to believe the faith.
He says in verse 2,
Now what does the by which mean?
It's referring to the gospel.
You're saved by the gospel, right?
But I want you to notice this.
If you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
Now he's about to drop a hammer on them because what he's and we're not gonna read through the whole chapter is a very lengthy chapter.
But he's saying if you're questioning the resurrection, which many of them in the Corinthian church were wondering, questioning whether there be any resurrection.
So if you have people in church questioning whether Jesus Christ physically arose from the from the grave,
then the apostles Paul saying here, oh, you're not keeping in memory the things which I preached unto you.
You believed in vain.
And later on, of course, he says your faith is also vain.
Why? Because they don't believe in the resurrection.
Why is that important when it comes to salvation?
The resurrection is a staple doctrine of Christianity because if Jesus Christ did not physically resurrect from the grave, we're not going to physically resurrect either.
We're done.
We're toast.
We're of all men most miserable, the Bible says.
OK, that's why Jehovah's Witnesses aren't saved.
Oh, I don't know.
I think Jehovah's Witnesses believe in the resurrection.
No, they believe in a spiritual resurrection.
Wasn't that enough?
No, it's not.
You have to believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ.
He didn't resurrect spiritually.
He resurrected bodily.
And in fact, he told Thomas, reach hither thy finger, feel his side and the prince in his hand.
And he tells the disciples that a spirit hath not flesh and bone which ye see me to have.
When he resurrected from the grave, he was physically out of the grave.
OK, and let me say this.
If you don't believe that you're not saved, you cannot get saved.
Well, prove it.
The Bible says that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
So it's essential to believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Don't give Jehovah's Witnesses a pass.
Well, they kind of believe in the resurrection.
No, they don't.
They believe in a perversion of the resurrection.
Jesus Christ did not resurrect spiritually.
He resurrected bodily.
OK, he physically came out of the grave.
So he's basically implying here in 1 Corinthians 15, hey, you guys are probably going apostate because you're rejecting the resurrection.
You're questioning whether there be any resurrection.
And in 2 Corinthians chapter 13, he tells them, examine yourselves, prove your own selves if you be in the faith.
Know ye not your own selves that Christ is in you except he be reprobates?
Basically saying like, hey, you better make sure that you actually believe the faith, the Christian faith, the system of Christianity.
The system of Christian beliefs, because if you don't, you're probably a reprobate.
That's what the Bible is saying here.
Go to Ephesians chapter 2, Ephesians chapter 2.
Talk about the substance of faith and the first thing that we're looking at is the faith referring to the system of Christian beliefs.
But number two, let's talk about thy faith.
And what I want to address here is the evidence necessary to be saved.
OK, I would call this saving faith.
Now, that phrase has been perverted a lot by a lot of people because they'll often say saving faith works, right?
And they'll often associate the right type of faith or belief in Jesus Christ with works that come after that.
And they'll often say if you don't do works after you've believed on Jesus Christ, you're not really saved then.
You don't lose your salvation.
You're just not really saved because, you know, saving faith works.
No, it doesn't.
Not all the time, at least.
Now, again, we mentioned in the beginning that faith is synonymous with belief and trust.
Now, let's look at Ephesians 2.
Most of you can quote this.
This is a very great passage to use when you're out preaching the gospel.
But let's break it down here in verse number eight.
It says, for by grace are you saved through works.
No, it says through faith.
Now, if yours says through works, you got to throw out your Bible.
Get a King James, amen.
It says for by grace.
Now, why is it saying that we're saved by grace?
Grace is God's unmerited favor, meaning we don't deserve eternal life.
But we're given eternal life because he's generous with us.
He's gracious with us.
But in order to access that graciousness of God, we have to access it through what?
Through faith.
Now, if grace means that we're getting something that we don't deserve, then that's completely contradictory to say that we have to do works in order to be saved.
Because works means that you merit, you're doing works because you think you can merit the gift or salvation.
But we cannot merit the grace of God.
Because the grace of God, by nature, in essence, is getting something that we don't deserve.
The only way to obtain the grace of God and the salvation that comes by grace is through faith.
Now, you say, well, prove it.
For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves.
Meaning it doesn't require any effort on your part.
It doesn't require your works, your ability to repent of your sins, your ability, your capability of keeping God's commands.
It's not of yourself.
And this is what I often tell people when I'm preaching the gospel to them.
It doesn't require your works because who did all the work for you?
And naturally, everyone says Jesus Christ.
How did he do the work for you?
On the cross, by dying on the cross to pay for my sins.
Exactly.
So if you feel like you have to do works coupled with his works, you're essentially saying that the work of Jesus Christ is insufficient to save.
I mean, think about that.
If you're saying I have to do work, I have to do my part, I got to make sure I do my part and do works and keep God's commands,
you are indirectly saying that the work of Jesus Christ is insufficient.
It's not enough.
There's not sufficient funds in that account to pay for my salvation.
But we know based upon the Bible that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is enough.
He says, for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves.
And then he's just hammering in even more.
It is the gift of God.
Now, a gift isn't something you pay for.
A gift isn't something that you even deserve.
You don't earn it.
A gift is something that is given to you by the generosity of the giver.
The person receiving it receives it but does nothing else to actually possess it or obtain it.
It's a gift.
And then he just like, this may sound redundant, but this is important.
Look at verse 9.
Not of works.
So he says, not of yourself, it's by grace, it's not of yourself, it is the gift of God, it's not of works.
And then people are like, yeah, but saving faith works though.
The apostle Paul is like facepalming.
Now, why is it not of works?
Well, look what it says.
Not of works, lest any man should boast.
So if you can work your way to heaven or do works meet for salvation, that means when you get to heaven, you'd be able to brag.
I stayed in church all the days of my life.
I kept the faith.
This is why I'm here.
But the Bible says that salvation cannot be obtained in that manner because the only thing we can boast in,
and in fact the Bible specifically says, if any man glory, let him glory in the cross of Christ.
What is the cross of Christ?
What is that referring to?
It means the work of Jesus Christ on the cross.
We don't glory in ourselves and in our works.
You know, we're not going to get to heaven and say, Lord, Lord, have not I prophesied in thy name?
And in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name have done many wonderful works.
You say, why?
Because of the fact that the person who says that, according to Matthew 7, the Lord tells him,
depart from me, I never knew you, you worker of iniquity.
Because he's relying on his own works to get him saved, whereas according to the Bible,
we need to rely upon the work of Jesus Christ to be saved.
Thy faith.
You say, what's the evidence?
Your belief.
What's the evidence that someone is saved?
What they believe.
That is the evidence.
Well, I need to see something more tangible.
Not for salvation.
You're just going to have to take their word for it.
And yeah, do people lie?
Absolutely.
But at the end of the day, the, what God says the diagnosis should be when we're trying
to figure out if someone is saved or not is what are they saying?
What did they claim that they believe?
Okay.
Go to Romans chapter three, and then we're going to go to Romans four.
So we're looking at the faith, the system of Christian beliefs.
We're looking at thy faith, the evidence necessary to be saved.
Look at Romans chapter three and verse 20.
Let's further confirm this.
In verse 20, it says in Romans chapter three, therefore, by the deeds of the law, there
shall no flesh be justified in his sight.
You know, a lot of people out there think that you have to keep God's commandments to
be saved.
You have to keep the law.
You have to keep the 10 commandments to be saved.
But they're spinning their wheels because the Bible says here that by the deeds of the
law, no one's going to be saved.
Justified is another way of saying saved.
Justification is another way of saying just as if I'd never sinned.
He says, for by the law is the knowledge of sin, but now the righteousness of God without
the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness
of God, which is, listen to this, by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them
that believe, for there is no difference.
Skip down to verse 28.
Wonderful verse here.
I like to use this one for soul winning too.
It says, therefore we conclude.
So here's the conclusion of the matter that a man is justified by faith without the deeds
of the law.
There's your faith alone verse, Catholics.
You know, Catholics will often say, show me a verse in the Bible that says faith alone.
Show me a verse in the Bible that says faith alone.
You know, they're so strict about that, but yet so lenient when we ask them, well, show
me a verse in the Bible that says pray to Mary.
They're so strict about the faith alone verse, they want us to find a verse and show them
a verse that says word for word, you're saved by faith alone.
But yet when it comes to their system of damnable heresies, they're extremely lenient.
Show me a verse that says purgatory.
Show me a verse that says pray to the saints.
Show me a verse that says sacraments.
Show me a verse that says Pope.
Not even to obey a Pope, just show me a verse that says Pope.
Show me a verse that says that we should call spiritual leaders Father.
Show me a verse.
Well, you know, we could extrapolate a bunch of verses.
Oh, that's interesting how you're so lenient when it comes to that.
But when it comes to the most important aspect of Christian belief, which is salvation, you're
just super strict.
No, I need to find a verse that says faith alone.
This is the same argument that Muslims give when they say, well, show me a verse in the
Bible where Jesus says, I am God.
Right?
They're like, I want to see a verse that says I am God.
Well, sorry, God didn't write the Bible according to your stipulations.
And you know what?
There's plenty of verses in the Bible that I'm satisfied with that teaches that Jesus
is God.
In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made.
I'm satisfied, aren't you?
Sounds like he's saying that he's God.
No, I want a verse that says I am God.
Well, here's another verse.
How about when Jesus said, I am?
Before Abraham was, I am.
Now, to the Muslim, that's just grammatically incorrect.
Because they don't understand that the Old Testament, Jehovah God called himself to what?
The I am that I am.
The eternal.
Jesus Christ obviously is taking on that title because he is God.
So he says, I am.
And that's why, and by the way, that's why the Pharisees sought to stone him.
Because even the Pharisees understood that he was implying that he's God.
And so, you know, the Bible's not written with your, God's not taking requests of how
to write the Bible.
He said, how do you think I should word this?
He writes the Bible, he makes it understandable, and you're to believe it.
Okay?
And not criticize the way he wrote it.
Not criticize the way he worded it.
Not criticize the manner in which he teaches it.
And look, there's plenty of verses in the Bible that teach salvation is by faith alone.
You know, when the Bible says that we're saved by grace through faith, that means that we're
saved by faith alone.
That's just another way of saying it.
Look at Romans chapter 4.
Romans chapter number 4.
Well, Pastor, you still haven't really answered the question, though.
You know, saving faith, I've always heard that saving faith works.
We should do the works.
There's plenty of verses in the Bible that say we should do works.
And to that I say, amen.
I mean, what do you think we're doing here?
Amen?
Come to the church preaching the gospel, I'm preaching the word of God because I'm doing
works for God.
But I'm not doing it to maintain my salvation, nor am I doing it to prove my salvation to
God.
I'm doing it out of love for God, because the Bible says the love of Christ constrains
me to do so.
But what about that?
Look at verse 1 of Romans 4.
It says, what shall we say then that Abraham our father is pertaining to the flesh hath
found?
For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory.
And what does it mean to glory?
It means to boast.
Remember Ephesians 2 says, not of works, lest any man should boast?
Well, here it says that he can glory if he's justified by works, but I want you to notice
the last phrase, but not before God.
So, if he's doing works and he's justified by works, who is he justified before?
Well, according to the Bible, according to Romans chapter 4, it's not before God.
Look at verse 3.
For what sayeth the scripture, Abraham believed God, that's your faith alone, and it was counted
unto him for righteousness.
Not to him that worketh is the reward, not the record of grace, but of death.
Here's the kicker, verse 5, but to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth
the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
So, according to the Bible, if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you place your faith
in him for salvation, and you never do works thereafter, your faith is still counted for
righteousness.
You're still saved.
Now, does it please God?
No.
You know, because God wants you to work.
The Bible says, we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God
has before ordained that we should walk in them.
And you know what?
We should go to church.
We should preach the gospel.
We should try to get people saved.
We should read the Bible.
We should live righteously.
We should repent of our sins.
We should keep God's commandments.
We should love one another.
We should do those things, but let's just be honest, not everyone does.
And the Bible says that if you don't work, you're still saved.
Now, what happens to the person who doesn't work?
Well, according to the Bible, the judgment seat of Christ, all your works were just burned.
You get nothing when you get to heaven, okay?
You know, you'll be saved, yet so as by fire is what the Bible says.
Because another one of the reasons that we labor for Christ is because according to the
Bible, when we begin to labor for the Lord, he becomes like our boss.
I mean, he is our boss.
That's what Lord means, which means that there's a payout.
So when we serve God, we're accumulating all these rewards when we get to heaven that
he gives to us.
But let me just tell you right now, there's going to be millions and millions and millions
of Christians in heaven who just get nothing, but they're saved and praise God for that.
But you know what?
I'm thankful for salvation.
I got saved 17 years ago.
I want to get paid though.
And if God is offering me a reward, I'll take it.
And if it requires a lifetime to obtain those rewards, I'll take it, okay?
But the point that I want to make here is the fact that a lot of times churches and
pastors mix these two, the works and the faith.
The only thing that's required for salvation is faith.
The Bible tells us in Romans 5 verse 1, therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with
God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into the grace
wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Why?
I still think you should teach people to live.
Of course, we all believe that.
Everyone believes they should live right as a Christian.
No one's like, sweet, I'm going to keep sinning.
Sweet, I'm just going to disobey God.
Obviously, we want to do right, but you know what?
The Bible says that we have the flesh and the spirit, and sometimes Christians allow
their flesh to overcome them.
They feed the flesh that much the more, and that's why they're weak in their spirit.
They know they should be reading the word of God, but they're so fleshly, they don't
pick it up.
They know they should be in church, but they're so fleshy they don't go.
So, obviously, the goal of a Christian throughout their life is to do what?
To strengthen the spirit, to be strong in the Lord and the power of his might.
Then when the flesh says, I don't feel like reading the Bible, you're like, shut up, read
it.
The spirit says, read the word of God, and then you make your body open up the Bible
and read your chapters.
And it's like, well, I don't feel like praying.
You're like, do it.
Pray unto the Lord.
But you know what?
A fleshly Christian who's weak in the spirit, like, I don't feel like reading the Bible,
I'm not going to do it.
This is why it's important to be in church, why it's important to read the Bible, to be
around other strong Christians, to fortify yourself so that you can do the things that
you would and please God, okay?
Go to James chapter 2, if you will, James chapter number 2.
James chapter 2.
Let me give you a third point here regarding the subject and the doctrine of faith.
So the first thing we looked at was the faith, referring to the system of Christian beliefs.
The second thing we looked at was thy faith, that which is necessary for salvation.
But let me say this, and the third point is I want to talk about increasing your faith.
And I'm not talking about increasing your faith to be saved.
Let's move on from that.
Let us go on to perfection, amen?
Increasing our faith, meaning you need to start increasing your belief in the promises
of God.
See, the Bible talks about, in Romans chapter 1, that we go from faith to faith.
You need faith to believe on the Lord Jesus.
You need faith to place your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved, but you know
what?
God wants you to continue to exercise your faith and believe God that much the more thereafter.
Let me give you an example.
The Bible tells us in Hebrew chapter 11, for without faith it is impossible to please God.
Listen to this.
For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and listen to this, and that he is
a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
So the person who gets saved and believes the promises of God, they're increasing their
belief in God.
Not their belief that they're going to be saved, but rather their belief in the promises
that he's made to them through the Bible.
It's important for you to read the Bible to increase your faith in God that he'll provide
for you, that he'll protect you, and that he will bless you for your efforts and for
your actions.
Let me tell you why sometimes Christians fall by the wayside or disobey God or get involved
in sin.
It's a lack of faith.
It's hard to believe the Bible sometimes.
There's promises of God that are difficult to believe sometimes.
You say, why?
Because the physical circumstances that surround us are often far more convincing than the
Bible itself.
The Bible should be sufficient, but folks, that's why we need to increase our faith in
God and in his promises, meaning believe what he says in the Bible.
Believe, if he says, hey, I'm going to provide for you, seek first the kingdom of God and
his righteousness, and these things shall be added unto you.
I will provide for you.
I will protect you.
You will make it through this.
Just keep serving.
Keep winning people to Christ.
Keep doing the things you're supposed to be doing.
God wants us to believe that and step out in faith and say, you know what?
It doesn't all make sense, but I have a verse here that says that God will provide for me,
and when you continue to serve God based upon that verse, based upon the Bible, you know
what happens?
Your faith is increased.
Let me give you a really carnal example of this, and I always give carnal examples in
this regard.
This is a powerlifting illustration.
So those of you who hate powerlifting, you can tune out, but your faith will not be increased.
I'm just kidding.
You know, in powerlifting, for example, let's talk about the squat, okay, the heavy squat.
Sometimes you have to kind of step out in faith and believe you can do more than what
you think you can do, right?
And it's like you go into the bar, and it's like over 300 pounds, and it's like a weight
that you've never hit before, but the program that you're on that's making you do the rep
work that's of a lower weight tells you you can hit these numbers.
You know, if you're able to rep, you know, 300 for three sets of five or six or something
like that, that means your squat is probably, your single is pretty strong, and it requires
a little bit of faith in the process to believe that.
So you go into the bar, and you're just like, you kind of, you walk that thing out, and
you're just like, this is really heavy, but the program says that I should be able to
lift.
And then, you know, some people are like, I don't have enough faith.
I'm just going to re-rack this thing.
I can't do it, you know?
But sometimes, you know what you have to do?
You just got to take the dive, and then you go all the way down, and you're like, actually,
I am that strong.
That's weird.
I didn't know that because I've never hit that number before.
That's obviously a raw example, but you know what?
It does illustrate the spiritual truth here, that the promises of God tell you, you can
hit that number.
You can make it through this trial.
You can, you know, God can bless your finances.
He can bless your health.
He can bless your home.
You just got to believe the program.
And if you believe the program, take the dive, step out in faith, and you'll see you'll be
able to lift that weight.
You'll be able to carry that burden.
And then when you make it all the way to the top, you're like, wow, actually, God made
me strong enough to actually lift that.
You know what my goal is as a Christian?
It's just to keep hitting spiritual PRs.
I've been in this thing for 17 years, and I have not yet arrived, and I find myself
wanting to increase my faith every single time.
And do I do it all the time?
No, there are times that my faith wanes.
There are times that I don't believe God, and I'm ashamed of it.
But in general, I try to make sure that I believe what the Bible says, and I step out
in faith and say, you know what, the outward circumstances say that this is not going to
happen, but I'm going to believe the promise.
I'm not going to stagger at the promises of God.
I'm going to be like Abraham, be fully persuaded that what he has promised, he is able also
to perform.
That's what it means to have faith, right?
To increase your faith in God.
See, we've already placed our faith in Jesus Christ for salvation.
But isn't it interesting that people will place their faith in Jesus Christ for the
biggest thing ever, which is salvation?
I mean, the most, what's the word I'm looking for?
The hugest, I don't even know if that's a word, ginormous.
The biggest thing, the biggest problem that we've ever faced in life, because going to
hell, I don't know if you know this, is the biggest problem of humanity.
Everyone agree with that?
That's a huge problem, okay?
But we believed on Jesus Christ for that, but then there's all these other little problems
where we're like, well, I don't know about that.
I know God can save him from hell, but to pay my bills?
I don't know, man, that's kind of hard.
To fix this situation, this relationship problem?
I mean, I know he can save me from hell and give me eternal life, make me live forever,
give me resurrected body, put my name in the book of life, keep track of me, keep me by
the power of God.
But I mean, to fix this little problem?
I don't know about that.
You know what the problem is?
You need to increase your faith in God.
Step out in faith.
You're like, I'm just afraid.
Join the club?
Who's not?
Faith is being able to act in spite of fear.
You're anxious, you're worried, and you're like, I'm going to do it anyways.
And we'll see what happens.
You know what?
It always turns out in our favor when we obey the promises of God.
And, folks, this is why it's important.
Look, I don't just say this just to kind of fill in a sermon.
I'm saying it because it's true.
This is why you got to read the Bible.
Because some of you may not even know some of the promises of God.
You're not familiar with the promises of God because you're not reading the Bible.
Once you read the Bible, you find the promises of God.
I mean, you found essentially a well of treasure, of gold, of promises.
And you know what?
He's able to perform those things.
He wants you to increase your faith in Him.
He wants you to come to Him believing that He can do those things.
You know, the Bible tells us, you don't have to turn there, Matthew 21, verse 21,
Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you,
If ye have faith and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which was done to the fig tree,
but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea, it shall be done.
You're like, I don't know about that.
Exactly.
In all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer believing, ye shall receive.
It sounds to me that God is interested in increasing our faith in Him thereafter.
Reading the Bible, and by the way, faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the word of God.
The more you read the Bible, the more you increase your faith.
The more you put into practice what the Bible says, the more your faith is increased.
The more you step out of your comfort zone, the more your faith is increased.
Okay?
I must hasten here because I'm almost out of time.
Let me see if I have another verse that I want to read to you.
Nah, we're good.
James chapter 2, so we're talking about the doctrine of faith, and what is the doctrine of faith?
We're talking about the faith, the system of Christian beliefs.
We're talking about thy faith, the evidence necessary to be saved.
We're talking about increasing your faith, meaning believing the promises of God thereafter
so you can be a strong Christian, a person who doesn't wane in times of trial and difficulty.
When the hard times come with finances, you're strong in faith knowing that God can provide.
You don't fall out of the way.
You don't resort to unbiblical, ungodly actions in order to obtain that which you want.
You take it to the Lord in prayer knowing that God can protect you, provide for you, that He will be with you.
Here's the last thing is a working faith.
The substance of things hoped for, the visible belief through our works.
Now, obviously, you know, when it comes to salvation, as I mentioned, it's not...
The only thing that's required is that invisible faith, right?
But, you know, as I mentioned in the previous point, God wants us to have a work of faith,
meaning that God wants us to work out our beliefs and be a blessing to others and labor.
The Bible tells us here in James chapter 2, I'm going to read to you from 1 Thessalonians 1, verse 3 says,
Remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ and the sight of God and our Father.
Look at James 2 and verse 1.
He says, My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.
Now, the first thing I want to mention is this.
He's saying don't have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ with respect of persons.
Is He implying that you can have it with respect to persons and without it?
Yes.
He's actually commanding don't have it with respect to persons, meaning it can stand alone, right?
In other words, our faith can be coupled with something else or it can stand alone.
Now look at verse 14.
What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith and hath not works?
Can faith save him?
If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them,
Depart in peace, be warmed and filled, notwithstanding ye give him not those things which are needful for the body,
what doth it profit?
Even so, faith, if it hath not works, is dead being alone.
What is it saying?
Well, first of all, let me explain that the book of James has nothing to do with justification, meaning salvation.
I know that may shock some of you.
A lot of the Bible has to do with salvation.
The book of Romans primarily has to do with salvation.
But there's actually other portions of the Bible where God just wants to teach you how to be like a Christian, right?
He wants us to learn about salvation and the deep things of salvation and justification,
but He also wants to teach you how to be like Jesus.
He wants you to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, which would require other books in the Bible to teach you and instruct you in the ways of righteousness,
the book of James being one of them.
So He's saying here, how is it going to profit your brother or sister if you say, if they're hungry, they're naked, destitute of daily food,
and you tell them, hey, man, I just hope it goes all well with you, though.
I'll be praying for you.
Does that really profit them?
No. Obviously prayer profits, but what He's implying here is that you should give them the food and shelter, right?
Because in order for someone to profit when they're in need, the person who can help them should provide actual sustenance to help that individual.
In other words, you know, the person giving the sustenance believes that God can provide for them,
but you know how they also believe?
They actually exercise that faith and give them food and raiment in order to help them.
That's an exercise of faith, right?
That's how you profit someone else, and I want you to notice verse 18.
Yea, a man may say, thou hast faith, and I have works.
Show me thy faith without thy works.
What is it showing us?
It actually shows us that we can have faith without our works, right?
Because He's saying, show me thy faith without thy works.
How would you do that?
By saying you have faith.
Just like salvation, the way we know someone has believed on Jesus Christ is not by their works, it's by what they say.
But He's telling them, show me thy faith without thy works.
I will show thee my faith by my works, the Bible says.
So what is He telling us?
It's teaching us that if we believe in Christian charity, in Christian generosity, in Christian hospitality, in Christian love,
we should not only talk about it, we should be about it, right?
And that's important because a lot of churches, there's a lot of pastors out there that talk about the love of God,
that talk about the generosity of God, but you don't really see any works applied to that though.
So how do you know?
Well, there's a lot of churches that talk about the love of God, but they don't go preach the gospel.
You know, we talk about the love of God here and guess what people are doing?
Guess what we do throughout the week?
We go out and sow and preach the gospel and we couple our works with our faith.
We believe that the gospel can save, amen?
Well, how do you know?
Because we go out every single week and put that into practice, right?
We go out and knock on doors, preach the gospel, we get people saved
because we believe that God has told us that the gospel is the power of God and to salvation to everyone that believeth.
I'm not just going to say it, I'm going to do it.
I'm going to have works coupled with my faith.
He says in verse 19, thou believeth there is one God thou doest well, the devils also believe and tremble.
Now that's a verse that's often taken out of context and it's often used to criticize faith alone, right?
Well, the devils believe.
First of all, can devils be saved?
That's completely irrelevant.
Devils can't be saved.
And it doesn't even say that the devils believe in salvation by grace through faith alone.
It just says the devils believe there is one God, okay?
And this is what I mean when I say you got to get in context when the Bible talks about faith and belief,
what are we talking about exactly?
Because here it just says the devils believe there is one God, or thou believes that there is one God, thou doest well,
the devils also believe in that and they tremble.
Verse 20 says, but wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead.
So what does he say?
He's essentially teaching us here that God wants us to have a living faith, meaning believe the right things,
but you better put some feet to that as well.
And it doesn't say that if you don't have the works, then the faith is nonexistent,
because it actually says that it's dead.
Showing us that it can stand alone is just, it's dead.
It's not doing anything, okay?
If a car, you know, runs out of gas, or if a car doesn't have a battery and it's not running,
we don't say that it ceases to be a car.
We're not like, well, that's not a car anymore.
That's not really there.
That's not, I can't, I don't see anything there.
It's not working.
Well, the same thing with Christians.
If you are, if you claim to have faith in the Bible, claim to have faith in the Word of God,
you know, God wants you to work as well.
If not, you still have faith.
It's just dead.
It's inactive.
It's not doing anything.
Where do I start?
Well, how about you just start preaching the gospel with us?
That's a great way to revive the faith, amen?
In you to get people saved.
And I'm not going to spend a whole lot of time on this, but verse 21 says,
Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?
Now, this seems to be a contradiction, because in Romans chapter 4 we read that Abraham believed God.
It was counted unto him for righteousness.
Whereas in James chapter 2, verse 21, it says that he was justified by works.
But then it gives us this little phrase here, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar.
So what's the deal?
Well, in Romans chapter 4, it's actually dealing with Genesis chapter 15, where Abraham believed God,
it was counted unto him for righteousness, and when he offered Isaac his son, it was like years later.
So we're talking about two different instances here.
One where he's just justified by faith before God, and the other one where he's justified before man,
based upon his works, which is why he's referred to as the father of faith.
And isn't this the case with a lot of Christians, where they get saved,
and they don't actually start working until years later?
You know, they get saved, they believe on Jesus Christ, they, you know, believe the right things
when it comes to Jesus Christ and salvation, but they don't get into church for a while.
They stay out of church, they don't read the Bible, someone happens down the road in their life,
the season of the soul, and they get into church and they start working, they start offering,
and it's by that that the church members see, oh, this person is serious about the things of God.
They're justified before, man.
I mean, this is a common thing amongst Christians.
The point that I'm making here is the fact that God wants us to have an active faith,
actively reaching people with the gospel of Jesus Christ,
actively being a blessing to the church members here.
The Bible says, as we therefore have opportunity, let us do good into all men,
but especially those of the household of faith, meaning you should favor God's people, amen?
Do good into everyone, be a conduit of blessing for everyone, but be a blessing to God's people, too.
Work out your faith, the Bible talks about.
What's the sermon this morning?
Well, I'm just telling you about faith.
You know, I'm talking to you about the Christian faith.
We're talking about saving faith, which is to just believe on Jesus Christ.
We're talking about increasing your faith, meaning start believing in the promises of God.
And you know what?
This coming year, 2025, we're going to have some Bible reading calendars that we're going to give out.
It's going to be beginner, intermediate, and advanced.
The beginners will be for the children because it'll be the New Testament in one year.
The intermediate will be reading through the Bible once.
That's for anybody who wants to.
The advanced will be reading through the Bible twice in a year.
And yes, we're going to give out certificates and gift cards to everyone who completes it at the very end.
You say, why?
Because I want you to increase your faith.
I want you to read the Bible and see it for yourself.
I want you to see what I've seen.
For your family, for your wife, for your children, for your husband, for your job, for your dreams, for your visions, for the future.
I want you to be strong in faith and not stagger at the promises of God.
And lastly, let's work our faith.
Amen.
Let's pray.
Father, we thank you so much for your word.
And Lord, we're thankful that all that was necessary was our faith in Jesus Christ for salvation.
We're thankful for the faith, which is Christianity.
And I pray that you continue to increase our faith as the years go by.
That we would believe you that much the more as we read the word of God.
Believe the promises of God.
Believe, Lord, that you can do great and mighty things which we know not.
Lord, you said call unto me and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not.
And I pray that as your people, we would not have a dead faith, but rather an active faith that is seeking to bless others, knowing full well that you reward us in the long run.
Even if we sacrifice, whether it be time, resources, ourselves, we know full well that what you promised, you're able also to perform.
And I pray you bless us as we go on our way.
We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.